Global Climate Change and Human Activity
How can we change our behavior to decrease greenhouse gases in our Earth?
A WebQuest
Ms. J Hunt—PS 324
What is global climate change and what is the greenhouse effect? Then, what are we doing to effect both of these things and why should we care?
Global climate is the average climate over the entire planet. The reason scientists and many other folks are concerned is that Earth's global climate is changing. The planet is warming up fast—faster than at any other time scientists know about from their studies of Earth's history.[1]
The greenhouse effect is a process that occurs when gases in Earth's atmosphere trap the Sun's heat. This process makes Earth much warmer than it would be without an atmosphere. The greenhouse effect is one of the things that makes Earth a comfortable place to live.[2]
The problem is greenhouse gases on our Earth are multiplying rapidly and making our environment not only an uncomfortable place to live, but making it a dangerous and unlivable place for many humans and animals. Scientists have linked human activity to the rapid rise of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide).
Go to this website and read about the Big Questions to better understand this problem: https://climatekids.nasa.gov/menu/big-questions/
Task
1. At the end of this WebQuest your group will learn all the different ways humans are affecting climate change.
2. Your group will come up with one way to reverse runaway climate change.
3. You will create a digital presentation to share findings and propose solutions by creating a book on Google Book Creator https://app.bookcreator.com/books.
Process
Day 1 and 2: Research climate change from these websites:
1. https://climatekids.nasa.gov/climate-change-meaning/
2. https://climatekids.nasa.gov/greenhouse-cards/
3. https://kids.niehs.nih.gov/topics/natural-world/greenhouse-effect/index.htm
4. Research other websites on Climate Change, the greenhouse effect, and greenhouse gases
5. One person in your group should be gathering information that you will need to put into your digital book
Day 3 and 4:
1. What is the evidence that you found out from your research on climate change and greenhouse gases
2. Begin to think about your own behavior that affects our environment and what you can do to make positive changes.
Day 5 and 6:
1. Each person in your group should identify and research 2 causes of runaway greenhouse gases
2. Discuss in your group, debate with each other which cause your group will focus on for your final project
Day 7:
1. Once you have decided on one way to combat runaway greenhouse gases, evaluate what is already being done.
2. Begin to think what you can do
Day 8:
1. Decide as a group, what you can do to and brainstorm at least 3 ways your group can make changes. (For example, if you have chosen ocean acidification, you would need to come up with 3 ways to reverse the multiplication of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere)
Day 9:
1. What is your group’s solution? Make sure you come up with 3 ways and have included all the information and reasons that your solution could work and how much it will impact the problem
Day 10:
1. Create your book in Google Book Creator that includes all of the following steps which you have completed:
2. Your finished product should identify the following 6 steps:
The 6 Steps of the Public Policy Analyst (PPA)
- Define the Problem
- Gather the Evidence
- Identify the Causes
- Evaluate an Existing Policy
- Develop Solutions
- Select the Best Solution (Feasibility vs. Effectiveness)
Day 11:
1. Presentation day: We will display each group’s book on computers throughout the classroom and the students will do a gallery walk to explore all the work.
2. Each book will be available in the book library for our class.
Evaluation
You will be graded on group work, the presentation and information included in Google Book Creator, the information that you collected and analyzed using the rubric below, your reasoning/argument that lead you to the choices you made for combatting climate change:
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Task |
0-1 |
2 |
3 |
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Group Work (collaboration) |
Is not able to: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners; express ideas clearly and persuasively and build on those of others. |
Is sometimes able to: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners; express ideas clearly and persuasively and build on those of others. |
Is able to: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners; express ideas clearly and persuasively and build on those of others. |
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Presentation of knowledge (Google Book Creator) |
Group Included 1-2 digital media and visual displays in presentations to emphasize and enhance central ideas or themes.
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Group Included 3-4 digital media and visual displays in presentations to emphasize and enhance central ideas or themes.
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Group Included 5 or more digital media and visual displays in presentations to emphasize and enhance central ideas or themes. |
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Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Knowledge |
Project does not include definitions of Climate Change or greenhouse gas, or the information is not complete or accurate |
Project includes clear definitions of either Climate Change or greenhouse gas, and the information is complete or accurate |
Project includes clear definitions of Climate Change and greenhouse gas, and the information is complete and accurate.
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Reasoning for and solutions to combatting Global Climate Change |
Came up with one solution for combatting Global Climate Change that will work but reasoning for the choice is weak.
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Came up with two solutions for combatting Global Climate Change that will work and reasoning for the choice is clear but not complete and thorough. |
Came up with all three solutions for combatting Global Climate Change that will work and reasoning for the choice is clear, complete and thorough. |
Conclusion
In this unit, we begin to learn about the problem of Global Climate Change, how Greenhouse gases affect our environment, and how human activity is contributing to our runaway greenhouse gas problem. We begin to discover ways that we can affect our environment so that we can all live comfortably
Standards
NextGen Science standards
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HS-ESS3-6. |
Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity. [Clarification Statement: Examples of Earth systems to be considered are the hydrosphere, atmosphere, cryosphere, geosphere, and/or biosphere. An example of the far-reaching impacts from a human activity is how an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide results in an increase in photosynthetic biomass on land and an increase in ocean acidification, with resulting impacts on sea organism health and marine populations.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include running computational representations but is limited to using the published results of scientific computational models.]
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